WMW | Air pollution standard backed by MEPs is ‘worse than useless’
The proposed Euro 7 standard fails to meaningfully reduce air pollution, effectively serving as a tool for greenwashing rather than genuine environmental protection. By maintaining previous nitrous oxide limits for petrol cars and weakening testing conditions for trucks and vans, the legislation allows dirty vehicles to be marketed as clean while regulators permit them access to low-emission zones and tax breaks. This regulatory rollback results from intense industry lobbying based on misinformation, significantly delaying implementation and relaxing limits that were originally designed to prevent thousands of premature deaths. Consequently, the new standard offers negligible improvements over its predecessor, creating a false sense of progress while ignoring critical pollutants and real-world driving conditions. T&E urges lawmakers to rename the draft as ‘Euro 6 F’ or withdraw it entirely, highlighting the danger of deceptive labeling in emissions standards. This article is relevant to greenwashing because it exposes how weak regulations enable carmakers to falsely advertise vehicles as environmentally friendly, misleading consumers and policymakers about actual air quality impacts and public health risks.
Source: waste-management-world.comPublished on 2023-11-17